Governor Kate Brown signs a bill that will open banking options for legal marijuana businesses; BridgeTown Weed Tour kicks off April 16; the Portland Development Commission wants medical marijuana to stay out of Vanport Square.
Gov. Brown signed off on a bill that will bring cannabis businesses closer to receiving banking services.
House Bill 4094 removes from state statutes any criminal liability for providing banking services to legal cannabis businesses. The law also directs the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services to study what other potential options may be available for banking services for the legal marijuana industry.
The new law, however, doesn’t address the biggest problem for pot shops when it comes to banking: Marijuana’s prohibition under federal law has kept traditional banking generally off-limits to the industry, even in states where it is legal.
Rep. Tobias Read, D-Beaverton, who sponsored the bill, acknowledged that HB 4094 doesn’t remove liability under federal law. Still, he said he hopes the legislation sends a clear message to federal lawmakers about Oregon’s position on the issue.
(READ MORE: Oregon Live)
BridgeTown Weed Tour, the first cannatour in Portland, starts April 16.
Ryan McFallo of the Tour said his group offers glimpses of the state’s “urbane approach to cannabis culture.”
…”We don’t take for granted the unique position Oregon is in, being one of only four states to fully legalize marijuana for recreational use. We realize there are countless numbers of marijuana advocates, patients, and recreational users in the U.S. that may not have the pleasure to go to a legal dispensary, visit a growing facility to learn the horticultural aspects of cannabis, or freely partake in cannabis without the risk of arrest and jail.”
(READ MORE: Portland Business Journal)
The PDC and condo owners at the Vanport Square filed a restraining order to stop Marina Zaré from renting her condo in the shopping complex to a marijuana business.
A dispensary on the property would cause the PDC to suffer “irreparable injury” to its financial interest in Vanport Square, according to its complaint.
A judge tossed out the PDC’s demand. But the urban renewal agency’s goals have already been met: Grossman has halted her plans for the dispensary. The partially renovated condo sits empty.
(READ MORE: Willamette Week)
